The Supreme Court Case That Recognized Same-Sex Sexual Harassment Claims

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sex and other factors. Court decisions have expanded Title VII’s definition of sex discrimination to include sexual harassment. Some of these decisions are now leading courts around the country to expand Title VII protection to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. New York City discrimination law, unlike federal law, expressly includes both of these as protected categories. Two Supreme Court decisions on sexual harassment have played a significant role in decisions relating to sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. One decision, Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 490 U.S. 228 (1989), held that discrimination based on “sex stereotyping” violates Title VII. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the other decision, Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc. (“Oncale II”), 523 U.S. 75 (1998), which held that…

Read more detail on Recent Employment Law posts –

This entry was posted in Employment and Labour Law and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply